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 Leachman's publicist said in a
statement that the actress died of natural
causes at her home in Encinitas, California.
"It’s been my privilege to work with Cloris
Leachman, one of the most fearless actresses of
our time," her manager, Juliet Green, said in a
statement.
"There was no one like Cloris. With a single
look she had the ability to break your heart or
make you laugh till the tears ran down your
face. You never knew what Cloris was going to
say or do and that unpredictable quality was
part of her unparalleled magic," Green added.
Leachman, who appeared in three of Mel Brooks'
comic movies, kept acting regularly well into
her 90s. She was a contestant on "Dancing With
the Stars" at age 82 and appeared in the 2019
reboot of the comedy series "Mad About You."
Two films that she made in 2019 and 2020 have
yet to be released.
Brooks on Wednesday called her "insanely
talented."
"She could make you laugh or cry at the drop of
a hat... Every time I hear a horse whinny I will
forever think of Cloris’ unforgettable Frau
Blücher," Brooks wrote on Twitter, referring to
her role in "Young Frankenstein."
Leachman grew up in Des Moines, Iowa, and
studied under Elia Kazan at the Actors Studio in
New York, where Marlon Brando was a classmate.
Starting in the late 1940s, her early jobs
included working on stage with Katharine Hepburn
in "As You Like It," as well as small roles in
movies and live television dramas.
One of her first regular jobs was playing the
mother on the popular "Lassie" show in the late
1950s and television would provide many of
Leachman's greatest successes. She won
best-supporting actress Emmys in 1974 and 1975
for playing the nosy landlady on the popular
"Mary Tyler Moore Show," which led to a two-year
run for Leachman in her own spin-off series,
"Phyllis."
She also won Emmys for playing cranky Grandma
Ida on "Malcolm in the Middle" in 2002 and 2006,
as well as roles in the drama "Promised Land" in
1998, a Screen Actors Guild variety show in
1984, a 1975 appearance on Cher's variety show
and "A Brand New Life," a 1973 television movie.
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 She was nominated 12 other
times and also won a Daytime Emmy in 1972.
Leachman's movie work also was distinguished,
highlighted by "The Last Picture Show" in which
she played Ruth Popper, the emotionally crippled
wife of a small-town football coach who has an
affair with one of his players. As director
Peter Bogdanovich predicted, she won an Oscar
for the role.
Leachman made an impression in three of Brooks'
movies, playing comically villainous characters
in "Young Frankenstein" and "High Anxiety" and
Madame Defarge from "A Tale of Two Cities" in
"History of the World: Part 1."
Age did little to slow Leachman. In 2008, she
became the oldest contestant ever - and a fan
favorite - on "Dancing With the Stars" and
followed that up with an appearance on the
reality show "Celebrity Wife Swap."
Leachman took a light-hearted and unpredictable
approach to life. A lifelong vegetarian, she was
in her 70s when she appeared nude - but with her
body painted with fruits and vegetables - on the
cover of Alternative Health magazine in 1997.
Asked in 2010 how she managed to keep
professionally busy at her age, Leachman told
the New York Times, "I don't like that word
'busy' because that's not how I live at all ...
When I do work, it's not work; it's great fun
and exciting and fresh."
Leachman and director-producer George Englund
married in 1953 and divorced in 1979. They had
five children.
(Writing by Bill Trott; Additional reporting by
Jill Serjeant in Los Angeles; Editing by Leslie
Adler, David Gregorio and Matthew Lewis)
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